Torrensville Bowling Club Dome Roof
Project Details
Location: Torrensville, SA
Completion Date: April 2019
Size: 3402 sqm
Fabric: PTFE - Chukoh FGT800
One of Adelaide’s oldest and greatest lawn bowls club, Torrensville Bowling Club, became one of Australia’s most modern clubs in 2019 thanks to its new undercover bowling club dome roof upgrade.
The 68m x 42m MakMax TensoSport-Max membrane canopy covers a large 12-rink bowling green at the club, protecting the club’s playing members and providing year-round bowling opportunities for both competition and social bowls.
The Brief
Torrensville Bowling Club was formed by a merger between the Hindmarsh and Underdale clubs in 2015, with the aim of joining forces to create a world-class lawns bowls precinct that would include metropolitan South Australia’s first undercover green. With both clubs boasting a long history of lawn bowls in the Adelaide region, dating as far back as 1904, the addition of an architectural dome roof was instrumental in development plans and a key part of writing a new chapter for the club.
Read more about the birth of the project in the Adelaide Advertiser’s 2015 article.
The Concept
Befitting the bold ambitions of the club to create a unique focal point for the members and local community, the MakMax team of engineers and designers proposed a new style of bowling green canopy for Torrensville. Now counted as one of our staple designs (the Loggerhead), the Torrensville Bowling Club project in 2019 was the first time we installed this style of tensile membrane canopy.
Featuring 3 high, large-spanning arches crossing longitudinally across the green, as well as 2 lower-edge arches, this style of canopy requires less visible steel structure than previous designs. This means a light light, open-air feel underneath the canopy.
The spanning arches are supported by diagonal struts to add strength and stability, while valley cables place both the required tension on the fabric, while also creating an architecturally pleasing profile.
The Materials
The Torrensville Bowling Club Dome Roof is clad in PTFE.
PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) coated high translucency glass fibre fabric is a dynamic tensile material unmatched for its aesthetics and durability, making it ideal for tensile membrane structures and shade
structures.
- FGT800 PTFE has approximately 12%-14% translucency. This means that daylight levels under a PTFE canopy will be much brighter than under other roofing materials. This will improve visibility for your players and is less likely to require artificial lighting during daylight hours – resulting in energy savings for your club.
- Expected service life approximately 45 years +
- Structurally, PTFE glass fibre fabric is waterproof, resists UV rays and is chemically inert. As a result, it is exceptionally stain resistant and easy to clean.
- PTFE fabric can reflect as much as 72 % UV rays to make it a cost-effective, low-maintenance option for sports clubs who demand a material that installs white and stays that way, long after a project has been completed.
